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“I think people are a bit immune to the burden of having to be safe with sex and a lot of people don’t like condoms. But also there is now a sense of entitlement where people think: ‘it’s my right to have unsafe sex’.”

Dr Rosevear said many people who contracted STIs were naive, but also said some doctors were not providing adequate treatment.

“I think quite a lot of doctors aren’t aware that these epidemics exist to even test for them, screen for them or treat them,” he said.

More testing done now than in the past: doctor

Cairns Sexual Health Service director Darren Russell said the results were surprising, and he hoped further data on the ages, genders, ethnicities and sexuality of patients would give an insight into the spike in cases.

“We’re certainly doing more testing than we have in the past, so if we’re testing more often we would expect to find more,” he said.

“Having said that, we know across Australia there is an increase in chlamydia rates and we’re also seeing an increase in syphilis rates in Australia too, so those increases seem to be very real.”

Dr Russell said STIs sometimes did not produce symptoms and could be dangerous if left untreated.

He said the most infections occurred in the 15-30 age bracket, with higher rates occurring in gay men who live in urban areas and Indigenous people who live in rural locations.

Dr Russell said initial testing for the diseases was usually simple, requiring urine and blood samples.

In 2016, the Queensland Government committed more than $18 million for a sexual health strategy to combat the rate of rising STIs.

A draft strategy said the Government would focus on six priorities: improving community awareness, supporting older citizens, improving education for young people, responding to specific community groups, prioritising infection prevention and providing quality care to patients.

– ABC

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